NEWPORT, R.I. – Freshman Mikey Spencer (Abington, Mass.) scored 30 points on 10-for-13 shooting to help pace the Salve Regina University men's basketball team to a 77-69 win over Wentworth Institute of Technology Saturday afternoon in Commonwealth Coast Conference action.
The Seahawks pick up their second straight win to improve to 6-7 overall and 2-2 in league play while the Leopards fall to 4-9 (2-2) after seeing their two-game win streak halted.
Salve Regina jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the first four minutes of the game with Spencer scoring six of those nine points. After baskets by junior Stephen Azums (Hyde Park, Mass.) and freshman Joseph Hecker (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) made it 9-6, the Seahawks pushed their lead back to seven on consecutive layups from sophomore Kevin Kelly (Valhalla, N.Y.).
Wentworth used an 11-0 run to take a 17-13 lead with 9:31 left in the half after freshman Noah Bice (Woodacre, Calif.) hit his second straight shot from behind the arc. Spencer stopped the run with a trifecta of his own, however, a Bice jumper made it 19-16 with 8:42 left in the half. Using a 17-2 run, the hosts reclaimed the lead and held a 33-21 lead after a sophomore Cameron Collins (Oakdale, Conn.) layup with 3:16 remaining. The Leopards scored the next five points to pull within seven and trailed, 37-28, at the break.
The Seahawks opened up a 13-point lead with 14:43 remaining in the contest after a three pointer by Spencer and extended the lead to 14 when Spencer hit another three, three and a half minutes later. Trailing by a dozen with 4:32 remaining, sophomore Kyle Henseler (Coventry, R.I.) helped cut into the lead when he hit a three pointer to make it a nine-point game and one of two free throws a minute later made the deficit eight (66-58). Salve Regina upped its lead to 11 with 39 seconds left when Kelly hit one of two free throws before Henseler outscored the hosts 6-1 in a 22-second span to trim the lead to six. However, that would be as close as Wentworth would get as a pair of junior Andrew Bronstein (Needham, Mass.) free throws with 17 ticks left sealed the win.
Including in Spencer's 10-for-13 shooting line was connecting on 6-of-9 from behind the arc. Kelly joined Spencer in scoring double figures as he scored 19 points as well as grabbing six rebounds and dishing out six assists.
Henseler netted a career-high 22 points, 17 of which came in the second half as he was 5-for-9 from the floor (3-for-6 from behind the arc) over the final 20 minutes. Azums went 7-for-8 from the floor to score 15 points and grab five rebounds, while Bice finished with 11 points.
Wentworth returns home for the first time in a month on Tuesday night when the Leopards host Endicott.
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